The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Lupinus arbustus

grassland lupine (ssp. neolaxiflorus), long-spur lupine, Montana lupine (ssp. pseudoparviflorus), spur lupine

Mohave lupine, Mojave lupine, Mojave royal lupine

Habit Herbs, perennial, 2–7 dm, green or gray-silky. Herbs, annual, 1–3 dm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely pubescent when young, rarely at anthesis, hairs less than 0.5 mm.
Stems

erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched.

basally branched or unbranched.

Leaves

cauline and basal;

stipules 4–9 mm;

petiole 2–16 cm;

leaflets 7–10(–13), blades 20–70 × 3–15 mm, adaxial surface strigose.

basal;

petiole 2–12 cm;

leaflets 5–9, blades bright green, 8–24 × 3–10 mm, adaxial surface glabrous.

Racemes

open, 3–18 cm;

flowers whorled.

4–25 cm;

flowers spirally arranged.

Peduncles

2–5 cm;

bracts deciduous, 3–6 mm.

hollow, 6–15 cm;

bracts persistent, straight, 2–4 mm, tips sparsely ciliate.

Pedicels

1–7 mm.

3–7 mm.

Flowers

8–14 mm;

calyx spur distinct, 1–3 mm, abaxial lobe 3-toothed, 2.5–5 mm, 1–3 mm, adaxial lobe 2-toothed, 2–4 mm;

corolla blue, purple, pink, white, or yellowish, banner patch white, yellowish, or absent, banner hairy abaxially, wings with dense hair patch outside near tip, lower keel margins glabrous, adaxial margin ciliate.

7–10 mm;

calyx lobes sometimes ciliate at tips, abaxial lobe entire, 4–5 mm, adaxial lobe rounded or shallowly 2-toothed, 3–3.5 mm;

corolla deep blue-purple, banner spot white or yellow becoming magenta, keel glabrous.

Legumes

2–3 cm, silky.

1.5–2.5 cm, adaxial suture undulate and ciliate with long dense hairs, sides with a few short hairs becoming scaly on drying.

Cotyledons

deciduous, petiolate.

persistent, disclike, sessile.

Seeds

3–6, tan, 5–6 mm.

2–6, ridged.

Lupinus arbustus

Lupinus odoratus

Phenology Flowering May–Jul. Flowering spring.
Habitat Open sagebrush scrub or mixed-conifer forests. Creosote bush scrub, Joshua tree woodland, sandy desert flats, open areas.
Elevation 1500–3000 m. [4900–9800 ft.] 500–1600 m. [1600–5200 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Lupinus arbustus is known from the Cascade and Klamath ranges, San Gabriel Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and the Great Basin area in California; Owyhee Desert in Idaho and Oregon; eastern Washington and western Montana; and western Juab and Tooele counties, Utah.

Lupinus arbustus is separated from the argenteus group by the presence of hairs on the corolla wings. Recognition of subspecies and varieties of this already complex species leads to precarious separation among taxa.

Lupinus variegatus A. Heller (1912, not Poiret 1814) is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

The fresh flowers of Lupinus odoratus smell like violets. Pilose plants can be confused with L. flavoculatus.

Lupinus odoratus occurs in the Mojave Desert region of California, northward to Inyo and Mono counties, and eastward into southern Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona.

The name Lupinus odoratus A. Heller is to be proposed for conservation against L. odoratus F. Dietrich (1836), a likely synonym of L. nanus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11. Treatment authors: Teresa Sholars, Rhonda Riggins.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lupinus Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lupinus
Sibling taxa
L. adsurgens, L. affinis, L. albicaulis, L. albifrons, L. andersonii, L. angustiflorus, L. antoninus, L. apertus, L. arboreus, L. arcticus, L. argenteus, L. arizonicus, L. benthamii, L. bicolor, L. brevicaulis, L. breweri, L. cervinus, L. chamissonis, L. citrinus, L. concinnus, L. constancei, L. covillei, L. croceus, L. dalesiae, L. diffusus, L. duranii, L. elatus, L. elmeri, L. excubitus, L. flavoculatus, L. formosus, L. fulcratus, L. gracilentus, L. grayi, L. guadalupensis, L. havardii, L. hirsutissimus, L. huachucanus, L. hyacinthinus, L. kingii, L. kuschei, L. lapidicola, L. latifolius, L. lepidus, L. leucophyllus, L. littoralis, L. longifolius, L. ludovicianus, L. luteolus, L. magnificus, L. malacophyllus, L. microcarpus, L. nanus, L. neomexicanus, L. nevadensis, L. nipomensis, L. nootkatensis, L. obtusilobus, L. odoratus, L. onustus, L. oreganus, L. pachylobus, L. padrecrowleyi, L. peirsonii, L. perennis, L. polyphyllus, L. pratensis, L. pusillus, L. rivularis, L. sabineanus, L. sericatus, L. sericeus, L. shockleyi, L. sierrae-blancae, L. sparsiflorus, L. spectabilis, L. stiversii, L. subcarnosus, L. succulentus, L. sulphureus, L. texensis, L. tidestromii, L. tracyi, L. truncatus, L. uncialis, L. villosus, L. westianus
L. adsurgens, L. affinis, L. albicaulis, L. albifrons, L. andersonii, L. angustiflorus, L. antoninus, L. apertus, L. arboreus, L. arbustus, L. arcticus, L. argenteus, L. arizonicus, L. benthamii, L. bicolor, L. brevicaulis, L. breweri, L. cervinus, L. chamissonis, L. citrinus, L. concinnus, L. constancei, L. covillei, L. croceus, L. dalesiae, L. diffusus, L. duranii, L. elatus, L. elmeri, L. excubitus, L. flavoculatus, L. formosus, L. fulcratus, L. gracilentus, L. grayi, L. guadalupensis, L. havardii, L. hirsutissimus, L. huachucanus, L. hyacinthinus, L. kingii, L. kuschei, L. lapidicola, L. latifolius, L. lepidus, L. leucophyllus, L. littoralis, L. longifolius, L. ludovicianus, L. luteolus, L. magnificus, L. malacophyllus, L. microcarpus, L. nanus, L. neomexicanus, L. nevadensis, L. nipomensis, L. nootkatensis, L. obtusilobus, L. onustus, L. oreganus, L. pachylobus, L. padrecrowleyi, L. peirsonii, L. perennis, L. polyphyllus, L. pratensis, L. pusillus, L. rivularis, L. sabineanus, L. sericatus, L. sericeus, L. shockleyi, L. sierrae-blancae, L. sparsiflorus, L. spectabilis, L. stiversii, L. subcarnosus, L. succulentus, L. sulphureus, L. texensis, L. tidestromii, L. tracyi, L. truncatus, L. uncialis, L. villosus, L. westianus
Synonyms L. arbustus subsp. calcaratus, L. arbustus var. montanus, L. arbustus subsp. neolaxiflorus, L. arbustus subsp. pseudoparviflorus, L. arbustus subsp. silvicola, L. caesius, L. caudatus var. submanens, L. caudatus var. subtenellus, L. elegantulus, L. inyoensis var. demissus, L. laxiflorus var. calcaratus, L. laxiflorus var. cognatus, L. laxiflorus var. elmerianus, L. laxiflorus var. lyleianus, L. laxiflorus var. pseudoparviflorus, L. laxiflorus var. silvicola, L. laxiflorus var. villosulus, L. lyleianus, L. mucronulatus var. umatillensis, L. multitinctus, L. noldekeae, L. proteanus, L. pseudoparviflorus, L. silvicola, L. wenatchensis, L. yakimensis L. odoratus var. pilosellus
Name authority Douglas: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 15: plate 1230. (1829) A. Heller: Muhlenbergia 2: 71. (1905)
Web links